The 6 Best Educational Blocks for Toddlers & Preschoolers

Toddler building blocks are some of our best early childhood memories and are among the most beneficial gifts to give to children aged 18 months up to 3 years and provide countless hours of fun, engrossing entertainment while also providing opportunities to strengthen fine motor skills. When children master their foundational fine motor skills, they are able to further develop their cognitive thinking ability through simple problem-solving and the use of spatial intelligence while also establishing the beginning formations of their identity and self-expression.

Read on below to see some of the bestselling top picks for toddler building block products for ‘block play’ available today to make learning fun.

Our Picks: The Top Toddler Building Blocks​

From Skoolzy, these Alphabet blocks come in an accessible size measuring one inch around and feature brightly labeled letters and borders that are pleasing to toddler’s eyes. The set comes complete with 30 imprinted blocks and is an excellent tool to have in your play arsenal to teach toddlers basic language skills and to also develop the use of their fine motor skills.

An included orange colored Skoolzy traveling backpack lets parents travel with the building block set easily and effortlessly for on-the-go educational opportunities wherever the family might be at.

Made from safe, non-toxic materials, this set from Skoozy is a highly recommended product that will offer your child vast opportunities for educational entertainment and plenty of time to improve dexterity and hand-eye coordination.​

Titled as the First Builders Big Building Bag, this set is the mega Lego set we have always dreamed of having since childhood.

With 150 blocks coming in a vast array of bright colors, this mega block set offers ample opportunities for entertainment, visual stimulation, the building of fine motor skills, and strengthening dexterity and hand and eye coordination.

Included are 80 larger sized building blocks that children can use to attach smaller blocks on as they construct their first child-sized buildings. Fabricated BPA-free and from top quality 100% safe commercial-grade plastic, the Mega Blok set from Lego will have your child enthralled while also providing them the utmost in safety.​

Product Dimensions

Product Weight

Ages

18 x 8 x 11.5 inches

0.6 ounces

One to Five

Pros:

150 blocks included in a variety of sizes and in visually stimulating bright colors

Perfectly sized blocks for children’s small hands

Included reusable storage bag for easy and efficient cleanup and transportation

Cons:

Lower quality block construction than other competing sets on the market

This premium block set from Tegu features 42 elegantly constructed blocks with integrated 100% safe magnetic elements and are made to cultivate intellectual curiosity and inspire awe and wonder.

The addition of the magnetic elements takes the activity of playing with blocks to previously unseen levels. With magnets, children can easily stack, create, and learn how to make massive size buildings that won’t teeter or totter in the way that regular constructions made from wood blocks will.

Without any need to attach or lock blocks together, kids are able to seamlessly compose the buildings of their dreams with an array of colors including sunset, various tints, and jungle.​

Product Dimensions

Product Weight

Ages

14.2 x 10.8 x 3.2 inches

4.4 pounds

One to Five

Pros:

Wooden construction is free from plastic parts

Incorporates unique colors and shapes

Distinguished by internal magnets that let children build and create in unique ways

No lead materials, non-toxic, all finishes are water-based lead, no plastic, non-toxic, water-based lacquer finish, no small parts

A classic favorite among households with young children, the Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Baby’s first blocks features ten distinctive blocks in readily identifiable simple shapes like star, circle, and square that are vibrantly hued and made to be dropped within matching cutout shapes.

These blocks are entertaining for children and will help to reinforce their fine motor skills along with their dexterity and hand and eye coordination. While children attempt to drop blocks into their associated slots, a wide-open and expansive bottom allows them to easily access the dropped blocks for more attempts at play.

This adorable product comes with a built-in handle that will allow your little one to tote their blocks around the house on their own to set down when they are ready for play.

With its very affordable pricing and internationally recognized Fisher Price name, the Brilliant Basics Baby’s First Blocks should definitely be a routine part of your child’s play sessions.​

Product Dimensions

Product Weight

Ages

8.5 x 5.5 x 5.5 inches

15.5 ounces

Six months to eight years

Pros:

Children can match and drop familiar shapes into their respective slots in order to improve fine motor skills and coordination

This innovative product from Earlyears features embossing on the sides of the blocks that will entice and engross young children and help to build their sensory perception skills along with their fine motor skills.

Embossed shapes, characters, and various animals let children run their fingers over the detailing to add another dimension and depth to previously playing with plain wooden blocks.

Each side of the block comes embossed with a different theme to provide kids with endless entertainment as they engross themselves in learning and using different senses.

The Squeak and Stack blocks differ from traditional blocks in that there are no hard edges or angles. Instead, they are squishy and soft to the touch and allow children to grab them easily without posing any harm to themselves or their peers.

Constructed from an easy-to-clean vinyl material and coming with a convenient transportation bag, this product is an innovative and fun way to provide hours of affordable fun for your younger children.​

Product Dimensions

Product Weight

Ages

9 x 2 x 6.5 inches

11.2 ounces

Six months to two years

Pros:

A wide array of fun colors, engaging textures, and entertaining characters and animals

Provides multi-sensory play opportunities

Six sides of fun come on all blocks

Blocks are made from soft and squishy material that is easy for young children to grab and manipulate

Fun squeaking sounds

Effortless clean up requires just a wipe of the vinyl material

Included zippered travel case

Cons:

Soft and squishy construction is not conducive to creating taller buildings

This building block set from Edushape takes the concept of playing with blocks and turns it on its head! With large oversized, corrugated blocks with extra sturdy inner cardboard construction, this set provides children with exciting opportunities to construct buildings at sizes much larger than they experienced with traditional small wooden blocks.

Perfect for inspiring young architects at heart, this set from Edushape offers vast amounts of entertainment while ensuring that children develop coordination and motor skills.

Easy to clean, this set requires a simple wipe with a washcloth. Each block can support up to 100 lb and can safely provide your child with hours of autonomous fun.​

Product Dimensions

Product Weight

Ages

23 x 28 x 3.5 inches

10 pounds

18 months to 5 years

Pros:

A unique set comprised of extra-large and robust blocks that will let young children use their inspiration and self-expression in new ways

Colorful and vibrant hued blocks with easy to grasp corrugated edges

Fosters teamwork and interaction with other children

Softer surfaces make these blocks easy to handle and manipulate for building endeavors

Building block toys are a critically important and essential tool in a child’s development for a number of reasons. Of primary importance is the way that building blocks cultivate and strengthen fine motor and gross motor skills, spatial recognition, and hand and eye coordination. However, building block toys also serve to inspire, mesmerize, enthuse, and motivate children. Through the use of colorful imagery, vibrant hues, engrossing characters, kids are exposed to art and color in books and toys such as building blocks and are able to build upon their own preferences and modes of self-expression.

Developing a child’s self-expression is ultimately mostly about exposure to the many activities and child-friendly concepts that exist in the world. From books to toys, to age-appropriate technology, when children are immersed in new experiences, they can begin to learn what they like and dislike, and ultimately what they love and find a passion for.

Playing with building blocks is an essential part of growing a child’s self-expression, which many consider being as vitally important as the building of fine motor skills. Both self-expression and motor skills must be recognized as critically important and children must be afforded countless opportunities to develop both concepts as they make their individual transitions into kindergarten and later grades.

By providing children with building block play time, we enable them to become explorers and discoverers in their own right. As children make new discoveries about the world around them, they become increasingly more aware of meaning and begin to assign importance to things as they go about establishing their individual identity.

Often, younger children playing with blocks will be constrained by communicating because they have not yet learned to speak. Allowing these children to play with blocks gives them the chance to express themselves as they simultaneously learn and build the valuable motor skills they will need in future grade levels. As a consequence, it is vastly important that parents, teachers, and educators provide toddlers and young children a wide array of instruments, tools, and modes of play so that exploration and discovery can be fostered at all times of a child’s life, even when they lack the ability to speak.

As the importance of basic building blocks has become more readily apparent in recent years, toy manufacturers have responded by creating products that are far from the simple blocks seen in yesteryear.

Building blocks now come in an array of sizes, shapes, colors, and embellishments, as well as different materials. As a result, building blocks are no longer basic square toys but are multicolored, adorned with child-safe decorations, and come in a variety of materials that appeal to the touch and other senses. As such, building blocks can be bought and found for just about any child’s particular needs or desires. As they play with toys they find highly attractive; the child is also able to simultaneously learn in an invaluable and autonomous way through basic problem-solving skills, exploration, self-discovery, and more.

When it comes to increasing the imagination and levels of creativity and development of fine motor skills within your child, consider buying one of the basic block sets above. From Fisher Price’s incredibly affordable block set that features grab and go functionality to Tengu’s premium set that comes with handcrafted parts and components, there are block sets from both the lower end and higher end parts of the spectrum that can easily meet the needs of many families. With the wide-range of reasonable prices and the incredible array of options, there is a set available that can perfectly meet the needs of your child and yourself as you both begin the journey to creating a life full of discovery and enjoyment for your little one.​